At Hill Investment Group, we spend our days immersed in markets and evidence. We know most people don’t, and our clients rely on us to do that work for them.

Even the most financially literate investors can encounter misconceptions, often picked up from friends, social media, or the financial press. Many of these are rooted more in behavior and emotion than in evidence.

Here are a few we hear regularly, along with an evidence-based perspective on each.

It can be easy to think of dividends as “free money” from an investment, and some even choose funds solely for their dividend yield. The reality is that when a company pays a dividend, the value of its shares is reduced by the same amount. For example, if you hold a $20 share and it pays a $2 dividend, you now have $2 in cash and a share worth $18—the total value is unchanged.

Companies that reinvest profits into their business sometimes create more long-term growth than those that pay them out. At Hill, we view dividends as one element of total return and often as a way to rebalance portfolios in a tax-efficient manner.

For clients who rely on investments for retirement income, we may help design a withdrawal plan by selling shares. This approach allows:

• Investment decisions to be based on total return, not dividend yield alone.
• Greater flexibility to manage tax impact by choosing which holdings to sell.

This can be more tax-efficient than receiving dividends automatically, which are taxable whether you need the income or not.

No one enjoys seeing an investment go down. But in certain cases, realizing a loss can provide a tax benefit while keeping your long-term plan intact.

For example, tax-loss harvesting involves selling an investment that has declined, capturing the loss to reduce taxes today (or in future years), and reinvesting in a similar security to maintain your portfolio’s strategy.

This doesn’t remove the reality of market downturns, but it can turn them into opportunities for tax management. While individual investors may not do this on their own, professional advisors often monitor for these opportunities as part of portfolio management.

Because U.S. companies are most familiar, many investors lean heavily toward them—sometimes without realizing it. Yet the U.S. represents only about half of the global market, which means there is significant opportunity beyond our borders.

Diversifying globally can help manage risk and position a portfolio to benefit from growth wherever it occurs. History has shown that different markets lead at different times. For example, U.S. stocks lagged from 2000 to 2010 while international markets performed better. In other periods, U.S. stocks have led. Since no one can predict which region will outperform next, broad diversification helps reduce reliance on a single market.

Investing comes with complexity, and misconceptions are common. Our role is to help clients cut through the noise and make evidence-based decisions that support a long-term plan.

If you know someone who might be interested in learning more about this approach, we’re glad to share educational resources or have an introductory conversation. They can reach us at askanadvisor@hillinvestmentgroup.com.

This is an ad we’d be proud to run in the Wall Street Journal, or anywhere, for that matter, because it’s the truth.

However, we’re only seeking to help a handful of new, special families each year…not tens of thousands. So, rather than charge higher fees to our clients to pay for expensive ads, we’ve been blessed with your help in achieving over 20 years of highly successful, selective growth through your heartfelt and warm introductions to family, friends, and those you care about who’ve become part of the Hill Family. Thank you!

As you celebrate along with us, if there’s someone special you’d like to help and think might be a good fit, please reach out to me.

Not ready for that? We’d be happy to send them a copy of Odds On so they can learn more about our “Take the Long View” philosophy, evidence-based investing, and values.

The beauty and benefit of taking the long view is not just about building wealth. It’s about upgrading your experiences.

Transcript:

Hey everyone, Matt Hall here. You’re going to see more of me like this, not just in writing, but on video. We think it’s a warmer way to stay connected. You can see us, you can hear us, and not just read about us.

It works. The data is and was overwhelming. But here’s the thing, people don’t connect to research alone. Those of us in the industry, we love the logic, the data, and the evidence, but most clients aren’t asking for more charts. You want to know, how does this connect to my life? What will this do for me?

And there, that’s where the difference comes in. We spend our time measuring and managing, running the evidence, monitoring the portfolios, staying disciplined and helping you stay disciplined. And what that does for you, for clients is it frees you up to live.

And here is what I’ve noticed. The payoff rarely shows up in mansions or flash. It shows up in upgrades.

The upgraded hotel room where the view changes the trip, the better seat on the plane that makes travel easier. The bike trip where someone else is helping you with just the right amount of support or the family vacation where you, you don’t just go, you upgrade it by bringing kids and grandkids along. Those moments aren’t about showing off wealth. They’re about upgrading experiences, creating memories, and being more present with the people you love.

One client summed it up perfectly when he told me. Now, Matt, the only thing I think about is which pool toys to get out for the grandkids. I think that’s the beauty of taking the long view. It’s not just about building wealth, it’s about upgrading your experiences, turning patience and discipline into more time, more freedom, and more memories with the people who matter most to you.

We thank you for being with us on this journey. Here’s to the next 20 years and all the upgrades that come with them.